Understanding Advances Toward Full LGBT Equality (and What It Means For You) with Sean Cahill

June 21 - 22, 201410:00 am - 6:15 pm

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Understanding Advances Toward Full LGBT Equality (and What It Means For You) with Sean Cahill

The movement for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people is one of the most successful in recent history. In the U.S., even though LGBT people and same-sex couple families experience inequality and exclusion in a wide range of state and federal policy arenas, significant policy advances have occurred. These include the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the adoption of transgender nondiscrimination laws in 16 states, the extension of marriage equality in 13 states, and support for same-sex marriage by President Obama, the Democratic Party, a growing minority of Republicans, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

This workshop examines the history of urban LGBT communities in the U.S. since the 1920s, and the pro- and anti-gay political forces that coalesced in the late 1940s and emerged onto the national stage in the 1960s and early 1970s. We will look at the incredible successes of LGBT rights activism in the U.S. and globally, and the treatment of LGBT people in several policy areas, including family recognition, elder issues, youth policy, and health policy. Group projects will grapple with key policy discussions currently underway, such as how to increase collection of sexual orientation and gender identity data in clinical settings and on health and demographic surveys, and how to implement pre-exposure chemoprophylaxis for HIV prevention with gay and bisexual men and transgender women. We will also examine debates within the U.S. LGBT movement between progressives/liberals and conservatives, look at gay voting behavior, analyze trends in public opinion toward LGBT issues, and examine the status of LGBT people around the world and in global policy and funding bodies.

Sean Cahill, Ph.D., is Director of Health Policy Research at the Fenway Institute. He is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Administration at New York University, where he teaches courses on LGBT public policy, and serves on the Massachusetts Commission on LGBT Youth. Cahill is coauthor of LGBT Youth in America's Schools (2012, University of Michigan Press) as well as two other books and many articles and chapters on LGBT and HIV issues. His most recent publication is "Growing older with HIV: New public health challenges," in the American Journal of Public Health (January 2013). Cahill led policy research at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute from 1999 to 2007, and led policy research and prevention efforts at Gay Men's Health Crisis from 2007 to 2011.

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